


What you don't know

by thewayofthetrashcompactor (BriarLily)



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Halloween, Haunted House, M/M, Not Fluff, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 03:50:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8733703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BriarLily/pseuds/thewayofthetrashcompactor
Summary: Rey wants to see the local haunted house and drags her reluctant boyfriend and friends along with her. It's not quite what she expects.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [politicalmamaduck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/politicalmamaduck/gifts).



> Written for a prompt from politicalmamaduck [on tumblr](http://thewayofthetrashcompactor.tumblr.com/post/151590024253/halloween-prompt-kylo-and-rey-go-to-a-haunted): "Kylo and Rey go to a haunted house. Bonus points if it's a double date with Finn and Poe. ;D"

“This is the worst idea you’ve ever come up with,” Ben said, arms crossed over his chest, looking at the precarious pile of wood and stone that passed for a house. 

“Really? This?” Rey asked curiously, smiling back at him. “What about the time-”

“Yep. This is worse,” Ben interrupted.

“Oh, come on. This doesn’t even compare to the time you dragged us all out in the middle of the night to-”

“It was a good idea at the time!” Ben said, ears turning red. “How was I supposed to know she was being watched by the FBI? That’s not the kind of thing that actually _happens_.”

“I mean, the email written by a Nigerian prince should probably have been the first clue,” Rey teased.

“It wasn’t that bad!” he said. “It could have been perfectly legitimate-”

“I agree with Ben,” Finn interrupted. Rey turned back to look at him. “Not - about the email thing, that was sketchy, dude,” he said as he glanced at Ben, who huffed. “But this is stupid.”

“It’s not like it’s just some random creepy old house,” Rey protested. “Everyone’s been to the Raftasum house, especially around Halloween We’re probably the only people on campus who _haven’t_.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Because that’s a good reason to do something.”

“Just because you’re too much of a hipster-” 

“He is, but he’s still-”

“I am not-”

“She’s right though,” Poe interjected, speaking over them. “Plenty of people end up here, it probably gets more traffic than the actual haunted house out on Walnut.”

“Yeah, because you have to pay for that one,” Rey said.

“Not you too!” Finn said despairingly. 

Poe shrugged. “Freshman year I was out here, bunch of guys on my floor got all excited about the spooky old house where a guy killed a couple of people, so we decided to check it out.”

“Of course you did,” Ben said, rolling his eyes.

“I thought it was three people, and they died in a fire,” Finn said, frowning.

“Yeah, but one guy set the fire, killed the other two, and then he got away,” Rey said.

Poe nodded. “The guys I heard it from said his wife was cheating on him with his best friend, and he went home one day and found them together, and then he and the friend started fighting, and he started the fire. He ran away, but his wife and friend died.”

“I heard the friend got out too,” Ben said. “They started the fire and then they both escaped, but the wife was trapped.”

“Maybe,” Poe said, shrugging. “It was a while back, all you can find online are the stories. Didn’t find anything last time I was here, no ghosts or anything who could clear things up.”

“You sure?” Rey asked, smiling.

“Pretty sure,” Poe replied. “But who knows, maybe this time.”

“Is that supposed to make us want to go?” Finn said, eyebrows raised. 

“It’ll be quick, I just want to see inside,” Rey said. “We’re not going to camp out overnight or anything.”

“No, because that would be _monumentally_ stupid,” Ben said.

Rey ignored him. “It’ll be fun!”

“Fun?” Ben said in disbelief.

“You guys can stay here if you want,” Poe told them. “Rey and I will go together.”

“You’ll be missing out!” Rey called back, grinning, as she and Poe started walking across the yard.

Finn watched Rey and Poe incredulously, while Ben stood with arms crossed. Ben tapped his foot restlessly as they approached the crumbling porch, then heaved a disgusted sigh and followed. 

“Oh, for-” Finn muttered. He went after them. “I swear, if you all start chanting or summoning spirits or some shit-” Rey laughed, which didn’t reassure him at all.

They all quieted as they reached the house, standing in the twisted weeds that overran the yard and crept up the walls. Beneath the disrepair, the vestiges of a good house could be seen, destroyed by more than time. It seemed to be leaning into itself, as if hunched over a wound, where blackened stains darkened the windows of a room on the first floor. The rest of the windows were empty, many with jagged edges, and the porch hung heavy over the front door.

“Ready?” Poe asked quietly with an excited grin. Rey nodded back, matching his expression. Ben shoved his hands in his pockets, and Finn eyed the front door. One by one, they stepped onto the warped floor boards of the porch, walking carefully around the gaps. Rey glanced around the group, still grinning, then pushed open the door. 

The light of the setting sun wormed its way through holes and gaping windows and dimly lit the grand foyer, gathering in bloody pools among the debris covering the floor. Rey stepped over the threshold, taking in the details of the house. She lingered on the empty picture frames hanging askew and the dark spaces where others had once hung, shadows of missing memories. Her gaze followed the length of the deeply gouged banister, up past the landing to where it disappeared from sight on the next floor. The light barely reached upward, and as she strained her eyes, she thought she saw a lighter flicker in the shadows above. She stepped forward unconsciously, trying to get a better look. Ben’s hand reached out and grabbed her arm. 

“What are you doing?” he hissed.

“Trying to see upstairs,” she said, craning her neck. 

Ben opened his mouth to protest, but Poe spoke first. “Let’s split up,” he suggested. 

Finn gaped. “Really?” he said. “You go in a haunted house and that’s the _first_ thing you say?”

“I didn’t mean alone,” Poe said. “We can go in pairs, I’ll go with Rey upstairs, we’ll meet you back down here.” Finn still looked uneasy, and Poe took his hand and squeezed it. “We’ll yell if anything goes wrong, I promise.”

“You better,” Finn said, holding his hand tightly.

Ben still held onto Rey. “I’ll be right back down,” she told him and leaned in for a kiss. He met her and slowly let go as she pulled away.

She climbed the stairs ahead of Poe, testing her weight on each step as she went. They creaked ominously, but held. Finn and Ben watched, standing silent even after they couldn’t see them anymore. Ben strained his ears, trying to pick out their footsteps from the creaking of the house in the October wind. He gave up eventually and settled for looking around the foyer restlessly, glancing from the slowly darkening window on the landing to the shadowed openings on either side of them. The room to the right could hardly be seen, except for the vague shape of a broken table kneeling on the floor. Splinters of wood spilled from the room into the hall. The room on the left was better lit, but the floor and furniture were dark, as if they drew light in. 

Ben sighed. “Do you want to look around, now that we’re already here?” he offered to Finn.

Finn pursed his lips, but then sighed as well and nodded. “Might as well.” Ben gestured to the room on the left, and Finn nodded. 

The floor crunched under their feet as they entered, and Finn looked down to see the crumbled remains of what must have been a rug covering the pitch black floor. Burnt out skeletons of couches and chairs crouched around the edges of the room, and a large brick fireplace loomed across from the doorway. Finn walked to the center of the room, Ben not far behind. Black stained walls surrounded them, broken by the empty picture window looking out over the tangled yard, now painted in shades of orange. A mirror faced the window, also warped and blackened, but parts were still clear, reflecting back the weak sunlight and casting fiery color across the void of the room. Finn stepped closer to the mirror, watching as it showed bits and pieces of his face as he approached, fragmented by trailing fingers of ash and heat. Burning light framed him from behind, until it was interrupted by a flare of bright blue that crossed the room. 

He whipped around, but it was gone, leaving only the light at the edges of his vision as evidence. “Did you see that?” he whispered urgently to Ben.

Ben was staring with wide and scared eyes to the right of the fireplace. He glanced at Finn. “What?” He looked back to the fireplace. “Did you-” He trailed off.

Finn looked to where he was staring, but saw nothing. “What?” he asked. 

“There was-” Ben stepped forward, slowly at first, then strode across the room. He hovered a hand over the fireplace, not quite touching, looking almost ill. Blue light caught Finn’s eyes from the corner, and he spun, catching a glimpse of a figure with vague hints of pale skin and dark hair before it faded across the room. He turned back to Ben, who still stood motionless by the fireplace, eyebrows drawn into a scowl. As he watched, Ben’s hand above the mantle clenched into a fist. 

Pale blue crept into the edges of his vision, but he couldn’t look away. His heart beat faster, and he tried to breathe, but the air in the room felt heavier, closer. A sudden rush of emotion rose from his chest, overwhelming him, filling his thoughts. Anger was first, fierce and blinding, but underlain by hurt and bone-deep sorrow and mixed with love so sharp it tasted like pain. He choked. His hand flew to his chest, clutching, trying to ease the pressure. 

Through vision that was growing hazy, he saw Ben take a step backwards, face drawn in anger and fear. “No!” he cried, and fell to the floor as Finn lunged clumsily towards him.

-

Rey looked around as she reached the top of the stairs. Most of the doors along the hallway were closed, though some hung open, letting strips of dim light though. Poe approached behind her, climbing the top step. 

“Where to?” he asked, gesturing broadly. 

She glanced to either side, considering, then turned to the left, preparing to walk that way until a familiar flicker caught her eye. She turned quickly in the other direction, but it was gone. Slowly, she walked down the hallway, treading carefully around the debris. She passed most of the rooms, feeling drawn to the one at the end. The door was mostly open, and as she pushed it further ajar, it revealed a large bedroom. Remnants of tattered curtains hung over the windows, and the bed at the center of the room was sunken, covered with threadbare and rotting sheets. The flicker appeared again next to the bed, firmer now, resolving into a definite form. She gasped.

“Poe,” she whispered, just as it faded again.

He glanced at her curiously. “What?”

She tore her gaze away to look at him. “Didn’t you see that?” she said.

“See what?” he replied, genuinely confused. 

She frowned and looked back to where the form had stood. Her gaze was drawn to the nighttables on either side of the bed. One lay on its side, drawers handing out, but the other looked to be mostly intact, covered in grime, but otherwise in surprising shape, considering the rest of the house. On it sat a lamp with its shade missing, holding only a broken bulb, and a picture frame, glass dirty but still protecting the photo inside. She walked forward without thinking, focused completely on the picture. She picked it up and squinted, unable to make out the people in the photo in the dim light. A sudden shout came from downstairs. She glanced up for a moment and saw Poe start and turn to the door, but her gaze was pulled back down to the photo.

-

Ben collapsed, overcome by the emotions assaulting him. From the moment he had met the dark eyes of the figure by the fireplace, he had felt him inside his head, showing his way through his thoughts. It felt like he was trying to get out, but he wouldn’t let go of Ben. He could feel everything the figure could, and it spread through him, taking him over. Burning, righteous fury, fed by betrayal and other emotions Ben didn’t know how to name, power, passion, raced through his veins, burning him from the inside out, even as the air in the room grew hot and oppressive, pushing back in on him. 

A cold hand touched his arm; Finn, it had to be, but it felt like someone else, a memory he didn’t know how to recognize, and the sudden surge of emotion from the presence inside of him made him cry out, the sound torn from him. Another hand grabbed his shoulder, and he could hear Finn’s voice, but it was masked by the roar of flames. Images flashed in front of his eyes and he screamed until he felt like his throat was bleeding.

-

Rey walked to the window, eyes still locked on the picture in her hands. She rubbed the dirt on the glass with her shirt, then tilted the frame to catch the fading light. Three people smiled at her from the photo. A dark haired couple stood close together, arms wrapped around each other, a woman in an intricate blue dress, and a man in a dark shirt. Another man stood close by them, lighter haired, wearing an old-fashioned tan suit, not quite touching. Rey’s eyes raked over the photo, like she could pull the stories of the people in it from it. She felt a presence behind her, heavy with regret, and she knew if she turned, she would see the figure. Her breath caught in her throat, and she tried to let it out slowly, feeling the rise and fall of her chest. She stayed frozen, but her eyes darted to Poe, who was hovering by the doorway. He looked back at her, but gave no sign he noticed anything unusual.

“I think-” he began uneasily, but was interrupted by a scream, long and drawn out.

“Ben,” Rey gasped, face turning white. She nearly dropped the frame, but something stopped her at the last moment, and she shoved it into her pocket as she ran from the room. She pounded down the stairs, Poe beside her, not paying any attention to the crunch of of wood beneath their feet. In the living room, she saw Ben curled on the floor, head clutched in his hands, ash streaked across his clothes and skin. Finn knelt next to him, holding him and calling to him. Something in his voice resonated oddly, but Rey didn’t stop to consider it. She fell to Ben’s other side, leaning over him. She flinched when has curled away from her touch, the pitch of his screaming somehow growing louder. Poe stood behind her, and she looked up to him. 

“Hold his feet?” she gasped. 

He nodded and knelt with them, taking a hold of Ben. With a glance at Finn, Rey wrapped her arm under Ben’s back, and together they lifted him, moving as quickly as they could from the house with him in their arms. They collapsed on the ground outside, at a distance from the house. Ben’s breath was as they fell. He gasped, but instead of screaming, coughed violently. He pulled into himself, the sounds rough and hoarse, and Rey stayed wrapped around him, tears pricking at her eyes. He finally lay back on the ground, gasping for breath, staring up at the sky. He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again. 

“Rey?” he croaked. She leaned over him, meeting his lips in a desperate kiss, and he pressed back against her. They slowly parted, clinging to each other.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered against him. 

“Told you it was a bad idea,” he replied hoarsely. She gave a choked laugh and looked up, still leaning over him.

Poe and Finn sat close together, arms wrapped around each other. Finn was looking at the house, a strange look in his eyes. Rey looked back down at Ben, whose eyes were closed, as his breathing slowed to normal. Looking back at the house, the burnt window on the first floor seemed to grow even larger and darker, ominously pulling her in. She felt the corners of the frame in her pocket poke into her leg and she shook her head, turning away. 

“Let’s go,” she murmured.

Finn nodded. They slowly pulled themselves to their feet, Ben leaning on Rey and Poe, and walked back to the road, ignoring the gaze of the house on their backs.


End file.
